Woodchat Shrike photographed at Pleinmont [PLE] on 17/5/2021 Photo: © Chris Sharman (visit site)

The Woodchat Skrike breeds mostly in the western Palearctic from Portugal to to the Caucasus and from Poland to North Africa. It is a vagrant to the Bailiwick.

Neither Smith or Dobson list the Woodchat Shrike as occuring in the Bailiwick. The first Bailiwick record is of a bird seen by Kevin Le Cocq in Alderney on 14 May 1956 (Conder). The first Guernsey record is of a bird seen in Herm during a five-day visit between 8-12 May 1958. The only other old records come from Sark. One was ringed by A. Le Sueur on 4 September 1960 and a further bird was seen at Pointe Robert on 2 June 1967 (Rountree, Transactions).

In the period under review, there have been four records from Alderney, one in Sark and six records from Guernsey, including an immature trapped and ringed at the Vale Pond on 3 September 1974. In autumn, records span from August to October but the majority of birds are seen in September. There have been three spring records, one in Alderney on 22 May 1980; one at Pleinmont on 12 May 1996 and one at Les Niaux on 13 June 1996.